American Airlines: Suspends Australia flights

Well, this seems counterintuitive. AA is suspending a bunch of flights due to delays in deliveries of Boeing 787’s. Amongst those flights are some to Australia, Sydney/LAX to be precise. Other AA flights out of the USA are also being suspended like Dallas to Tel Aviv, and London.

Back in December 2021 AA indicated that it might be short around 13 of the B787’s that it had planned on being delivered.

So what’s causing the delay at the Boeing end?

Boeing must be feeling beleaguered. As is Airbus over some A350’s delivered to Qatar airlines that have been grounded for some time.

The problem seems to be with the technological problems of using new carbon fibre as the building blocks of aircraft instead of aluminium. In the case of the A350’s at Qatar, the paint doesn’t’ seem to be adhering to certain sections of the planes, and this has caused a whopping despite between the airline and Airbus. One says it’s cosmetic, and the airline claims it as a safety issue.

In the case of Boeing and the 787 Dreamliners, it seems to be a combination of quality control lapses – blamed on Boeing subcontractors and what is reported as ‘tiny structural imperfections in the carbon-fibre aircraft’ that need repair.

Other services to the USA

Qantas is still flying to LAX with an A380 5 days a week, and a Dreamliner picking up the other two days. Delta Airlines, and Virgin Australia partner United Airlines also have daily services between Sydney and Los Angeles.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Boeing is not having good press at the moment, and that was before the new Netflix documentary was released.

The former engineering-led company is fighting a reputational battle about its standards and ethical conduct, not to mention the failure of two 737 Max aircraft and the deaths of over 300 staff and passengers resulting in a near 2-year grounding of the aircraft.

For the recovery of the airline industry, let’s hope these issues are successfully resolved and soon.